Background

To evaluate feasibility and diagnostic performance of clinical 7-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the shoulder.

Methods

Eight patients with suspected lesions of the rotator cuff underwent 7-T MRI before arthroscopy. Image quality was scored for artifacts, B₁⁺ inhomogeneities, and assessability of anatomical structures. A structured radiological report was compared to arthroscopy. In four patients, a visual comparison with pre-existing 1.5-T examinations was performed.

Results

Regarding image quality, the majority of the sequences reached values above the middle of each scoring scale. Fat-saturated proton density sequences showed least artifacts and best structure assessability. The most homogenous B₁⁺ field was reached with gradient-echo sequences. Arthroscopy did not confirm tendinopathy/partial tear of supraspinatus in 5/8 patients, of subscapularis in 5/6, and of infraspinatus in one patient; only a partial lesion of the subscapularis tendon was missed. Pathologic findings of long bicipital tendon, acromioclavicular joint, glenohumeral cartilage, labrum, and subacromial subdeltoideal bursa were mainly confirmed; exceptions were one lesion of the long bicipital tendon, one subacromial bursitis, and one superior glenoid labrum anterior-to-posterior lesion, missed on 7-T MRI. Evaluating all structures together, sensitivity was 86%, and specificity 74%. A better contrast and higher image resolution was noted in comparison to previous 1.5-T examinations.

Conclusions

7-T MRI of the shoulder with diagnostic image quality is feasible. Overrating of tendon signal alterations was the main limitation. Although the diagnostic performance did not reach the current results of 3-T MRI, our study marks the way to implement clinical 7-T MRI of the shoulder.

中文翻译：

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怀疑肩袖病变的患者的肩部7-T临床MRI。

背景

评估临床7-T磁共振成像（MRI）肩膀的可行性和诊断性能。

方法

关节镜检查前，八名怀疑肩袖损伤的患者接受了7-T MRI检查。对伪影，B ₁ ⁺不均匀性以及解剖结构的可评估性对图像质量进行评分。一份结构化的放射学报告与关节镜进行了比较。在四名患者中，与已有的1.5-T检查进行了视觉比较。

结果

关于图像质量，大多数序列达到的值高于每个评分尺度的中间值。脂肪饱和的质子密度序列显示出最少的伪影和最佳的结构可评估性。最均匀的B ₁ ⁺梯度回波序列达到了磁场。关节镜检查未确认5/8例患者的腱鞘肌腱病/部分撕裂，5/6例为肩sub下肌，1例为鼻下肌。仅漏出了肩s下肌腱的部分病变。主要证实了长二头肌腱，肩锁关节，盂肱软骨，唇骨和肩峰下硬膜下滑囊的病理表现；在7-T MRI上未发现一处长二头肌腱病变，一处肩峰下滑囊炎和一处上盂盂唇前后病变。一起评估所有结构，灵敏度为86％，特异性为74％。与以前的1.5-T检查相比，有更好的对比度和更高的图像分辨率。

结论

具有诊断图像质量的肩部7-T MRI是可行的。肌腱信号改变的高估是主要限制。尽管诊断性能未能达到3-T MRI的当前结果，但我们的研究标志着实施肩部临床7-T MRI的方法。